advisor tom

Growth vs. Value Performance

what went up the most during the bull went down the most during the bear. imagine that... if you read anything more into this stuff than that you need to get your own social life.

Growth vs. Value Performance

useless data

Let's Think Long and Hard About Extending Those Bush Tax Cuts

It would be unwise to add middle and upper middle class tax hikes as Obama proposes. I have many senior citizen clients who earn barely above the $50,000 threshold he deliniates that would be devistated by his cancelling the preferred dividend and capital gains tax programs in place.
We do have a conundrum as to how low can rates go? Since over 60 % of our oil is imported, an inverse relationship with the dollar and oil exists. The lower the dollar goes, the higher oil costs us. If we were at parity with the euro we would be grousing about $2.50/gallon vs what we have. Further rate cuts will lower the dollar more and a tax hike would also be untimely. It is uninformed to compare our current situation with the 90s. Since the credit has been too easy for a much longer period, some nasty chicanery has been going with respect to these new fangled structured financial products. Most people that own these products have no clue as to what they are.
What needs to happen is happening, but slowly. Americans need to look at their debt portflio and consider cutting out debt on depreciating assets like cars and use them a little longer and quit abusing them. I am no green guy by any means, but when I see a motorist alone tearing off from the green light in his 6,000 lb. SUV, I think... No Wonder. So when more Americans become less finacially dependent on the economy, economic swings will be less violent. Our politicians, including Obama, will continue to lie and we can't stop that. We can talk loudly with our purse strings to the world and say the party is over for you, but not for us. The best part about the internet is that real communication can happen.

A Lazy ETF Portfolio With U.S./Foreign Mixture

for a so- called low correlated investment it seems to track dia closely with an increase in beta by some 56%. I know this etf has not been out for very long, but with time one would think that more offerings will be available that may increase alpha without using high beta and highly correlated investments.


On Nov 17 08:27 PM goatfarmer wrote:

> This is a very interesting concept, made possible by the recent proliferation
> of global ETFs. I made a tally from ETF connect and count around
> 150 global, regional and country funds. My comment would be that
> domestic/foreign needn'tbe an either/or decision. Rather, one could
> easily have twenty ETF's: 10 domestic and 10 foreign. Ratios of holdings
> could be according to a chosen benchmark, domestic or international
> and varied according to preferences such as the inversion of the
> yield curve.
>
> This is a tantalizing proposition for the conservative investor.
> It has the benefit of diversification, globalizaation and benchmarking
> without picking stocks.
>
> One potential problem is counterparty risk. Are ETF's as safe as
> the underlying shares? Is there a risk that Ishares could make a
> computer error, or suffer from fraud? Should one consciously diversify
> among ETF holders to avoid such a risk?